


A Chilling Thought

by Selwyn111



Series: Not our new overwatch [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: I'm sorry omnics, Mei is not evil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 02:53:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8039626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Selwyn111/pseuds/Selwyn111
Summary: It usually comes in sixes, six teammates, six satellites, six years. One friend until the end.





	A Chilling Thought

**Author's Note:**

> I know Snowball doesn't talk and it says that they are just for weather but I needed to take a small 'eh' approach for writing this character.

The small machine blinks a red light to show that it is recording, it was a bit too curious and always getting itself into trouble, but that would not stop Snowball from leaving Mei's side. The small weather drone adored Mei for taking it on the expedition to help do its job and be part of the team to better the world.

-open log-

"We have to do something about the storm." Bishop says. A zealous man from England who was always more than willing to be out protesting and trying to encourage the younger generations to join in their cause. 

"We can't do anything about the storm we got to find a solution for ourselves, it has been a week without communication from Overwatch. We don't know how quickly they will be able to mobilize a rescue. If the storm is messing with our systems, we can't imagine what it would be doing to their ships." Dev'onne says. A normally quiet woman from one of the warmer states in the United States. 

"We could be dooming our rescuers." Mei says, "We will just have to find a way to make our own until later." 

"How Mei? We already have been rationing our food and energy output. We got enough to last us four days, eight if we ration it to a meal per day." Gary begs to know. From Ireland his country was at risk for if the ice caps melted, he was the second most determined. 

"Twelve meals is all we have left, who was in charge of the last supplies." Sarah asks with desperation crawling into her voice. A girl who had watched Angela Zeiger climb the ranks to top doctor, and their chief of medical on the base. 

"Blackwatch agent Jessie McCree, it was a small punishment from his commander. Although I did change some of the supplies, cheese in a can would not have been well suited for this endeavour." Obetron says. 

"It was a figure of speech." Sarah sits placing her head in her hands ignoring the cyborg. 

"I apologize." Obetron nods his head, still wearing some semblance of winter attire. 

"Mei is that thing on?" Bishop asks commenting on snowball flying around. 

"I- Yes Snowball is on and recording." 

"Can you ask it to stop feels like its recording out last words. Snowball only listens to you." Dev'onne says crossing her arms over her chest. 

"Snowball stop recording, please." Mei asks. 

-close log-

Snowball stops his recording but the conservation continues. He flies over to Meis shoulder listening in. 

“I just want to say that there are always choices that we make to get where we are.” Dev’onne says.

“This was out of our control Dev’onne. We were supposed to be picked up a week ago.” Bishop says, “I wanted to tell the nice man who usually picks us up of what happened here. He is cute.” 

“I would regret to inform you that he is more than likely dead. If they were to arrive then he would have perished.” Obetron says.

“Obetron, you know that you are a bit depressing at times.” Gary says shaking his head at the omnics comment.

“Eh hes not use to it here here. It didn't offend me so there is nothing to get over at least.” Bishop says smugly smiling at Gary.

“Oh go fuck yourself.” Gary almost snarls back, tired of everything that has gone down.

“What did you just say to me?” Bishop stands and Gary follows suit.

“I said for you to go fuck yourself.” Gary says at the end of his rope. 

“”Look we can't have this fighting,” Sarah says stepping between the two before it escalates any further, “we need to come to a decision. I would hate to suggest it but it is a last resort.” Sarah finishes looking down.

“What is your idea Sarah.” Mei asks having an idea of the desperate measures they will have to face. She grabs Snowball and turns him off so he doesn’t set anyone else on edge for what is to come.

\------------------------------------  
Snowball feels himself power up, and gives a small scan of his surroundings, he was in Meis cubby with Mei right in front of him with a grave look, "Open log.” 

-open log-

“Snowball listen to me," Mei whispered to the small omnic, "I want it to be recorded that after three days and the storm burying most of the base, our expedition was turned for the worse. We for our own safety had gone for the most drastic measure unsafe as it is, it is our only hope. Cryostasis, and Obertron says he will be powering to minimal to not affect the machines. He will be watching over the amount of power tha-" 

"Mei come on!" Sarah calls from the other room. 

"Yes! Coming! Coming. Snowball I want to know that you have been a great friend, and it might be a while before we see each other again, but not longer that one year. That's all the power the base has, Snowball close log." 

-close log- 

The small omnic looks at its friend as her and the five others enter stasis. It watches the other omnic start to power down after connecting itself to the main frame to monitor the others while it sleeps. Going inside its cubby on Mei’s shelf and sets a timer for six months if not awoken first. It starts to power down knowing what it might have to do. If they were going to drastic measures, then so was he.

\------------------------------------

No lights were on in the base when he awoke, apart from the signal lights to the cryostasis pods. Snowball spins and starts its flight, moving towards Obertron sitting close to the console unmoving. The desk lights are dimmed, and a small part of the screen is illuminated _power fifty percent_. 

The larger omnic was stealing power Snowball knew it, it was putting the others in danger even if it was unintentional. Snowball would not let anything to happen, he was smaller, he would not take power from the base. He could shut down entirely not like the larger Omnic asleep before him. Opening the hatch inside the base, Snowball triggers the alarm system waking up Obetron.

"Hello there! Members of Overwatch, the rest of the expedition is stuck in cryostasis." Obetrons voice sounds out, echoing through the base. 

Snowball quickly grabs one of the gloves from the nearest cubby and brings it outside. Dropping the fingers of the glove over the opening making it look like someone was there. 

"over, here!" Snowball lets a small part of Bishops recording play out. 

"I will help you with the door." Obertron says, snowball can hear disconnection between him and the machine. His voice drops, he was trying to avoid taking any power from the station, but it was natural for his style of omnics to do this. 

Stumbling footsteps approach the door, mechanical whirring as the omnic pushes against the door. It bursts open with jagged ice chunks flying, Snowball closes the smaller hatch and hides in a small snow bank. 

"Hello! Hello? Is anyone there. Ouf" Obetron is cut off, falling into the snow. Snowball starts to emerge from the snow. 

-log open-

Snowball starts to fly to the door seeing Obetron try to gain his footing in the wait deep snowbank that has piled around the door. Snowball looks at the larger omnic pause looking around and spotting him. 

“Snowball, were you awoken by the alarm as well? Have you seen any of the Overwatch team.” Obetron waits for Snowball response, and the response was something he never could have expected. 

Snowball using his main function, starts spinning and stirring up the freezing wind and ice around him. Small ice pellets that would strip someone of skin in seconds. The pellets do little other than scrape and scratch Obetron. Snowball realizes that it has to try another tactic to freeze the omnic. 

“Snowball! What is happening, what are you doing?

Snowball turns the ice pellets to warm chunks of slush focusing the field to be a ten foot radius around Obetron. Changing the winds to be freezing and then warming to trickle water into the space between all the wiring. 

The process lasts for seven minutes until the expanded ice started to truly destroy Obetron. Setting the ice to freeze one last time Snowball sinks down looking Obetron in the eyes. 

"Why? Why -why-why why are you doing this?" Obetron asks his voice skipping his automatic programming kicking in, "Power five percent." 

Snowball plays back sound, Meis laughter and content beeping, "A great friend." 

"You c-c-care for herrrr deeply. Thaaaat is g-g-g-good, but-but killing for her is wrong. What would she think?" 

Snowball starts to make his way back to the small door of the bunker. Using a wind blast opening the hatch and going inside. 

-close log-

Heading to the console desk Snowball tunes himself to the desk, a new overlay appears in his HUD and starts to sync with his programming. He sees the power and sets a timer for three months. 

\------------------------------------

Three months pass and Snowball awakens. A message appears on the console screen _power forty five percent_. Snowballs plan worked, the smaller omnic uses less power than Obetron did. This might just help them after all, it can't save them just yet. 

Snowball sends a signal to all overwatch bases not knowing if it is going to reach its mark. Snowball exits and checks around the base most of it covered in knee to waist deep snow. One of the six satellites has been buried in snow breaking the support. The dish was half missing in the snow beneath, it was for the closest base, and their satellites. 

Snowball shakes and goes back inside, syncing back _power forty two percent_ panicking and turning off the signal. It waits for a moment sinking, landing on the console it stares at the cryostasis pods. 

Mei was in the center of the five pods, Dev'onne and Sarah are to either side of her, and Bishop and Gary. All asleep, all pods working at sixty percent. 

-open log- 

Bishops face pops up in the screen, sleeping peacefully. A light appears above Bishops head it takes a few minutes until the light dims and Bishops eyes open. 

"What day is it?" no response, "Snowball! What a good sight to see you! Is Obetron okay? This will be a great story to tell everyone back home, let the kids know that you can do crazy things." 

The camera spins around slowly, panning around the room. 

"Snowball did the power go out? It's freezing in here, oh no. No no no no, am. Am I the last one?" Bishops voice catches in his throat. 

The recording breaks in and out the time stamp moving to a total of six hours ahead, shaky pleading breaking in the background that turns to numbed rambling. Bishop had clawed at the iced blisters breaking more than a few open while freezing to death. The blood freezing on his skin already partially coagulated, blood below the skin losing oxygen sending the mans complexion to an deathly blue shade. 

Snowballs recording cuts out as he was making his way back to the console. A small calculation as for when Meis pod with renewed power would reach fifty percent, eighteen months. They had to be there by then, Overwatch couldn't forget them.

\------------------------------------

Snowball awakens the bases power flashing, _thirty percent._ Snowball looks around seeing a small layer of snow having reached into the bunker, finding the source of light illuminating the base, the small door was left open. 

Shaking off the small amount of snow that settled on him to avoid ice melt to end up like Obertron. Snow has piled around the base of another of the five remaining satellite dishes. Icicles threatening to break another, their weight alone having made the dish droop. It takes a few moments for Snowball to remove the icicles, ramming into them breaking them off. 

He decides to clear off dish three completely, no snow on the inside so it would be easy to move. Going to its small control box he sets the coordinates. 47.393688, 8.566339 Overwatch HQ. thankfully only the single satellite moves. 

Rushing inside it lands at the console desk. Using Bishops voice from his last recording he sends his message, "Please help us. We are out of power. And I don't want to die. And. We have to do something. It's freezing in here." 

Snowball hears a crackly voice breaking in and out, "Hello? Base Antarctica. This is Swiss HQ. Copy." Snowball hears a faint alarm in the back. 

"We are out of power. Please help us." Snowball repeats this phrase twice before letting the crackly voice speak again. 

"Okay I will start a charter out to retrieve all of you. You have an omnic with you, is he capable of helping set course? Wait! Shit!" the voice cuts out. The alarm stops, a bit of crackling can be heard as radio static but nothing more. 

Snowball looks at the cryostasis pods, four with lights. Bishop had lurched forwards, ice crystals forming inside the chamber, covering his skin. Sarah between Bishop and Mei. Dev'onne and Gary on Mei's opposite side. 

Snowball turns the power off for the two pods furthest away, Gary and Dev'onne's. It would be a few minutes before the pair wake up. Snowball decides he needs to save power, not only for the base but himself as well. 

He goes over to the medical bay and rolls a small tank of anesthetic over to the pods. 

-open log-

The camera looks down showing the small omnic to be right above the valve of the tank. Rushing down breaking the frozen valve the screen is fogged by the anesthetic cloud. The fog clears, and a large crack is all along the bottom of Gary's cryostasis pod, with the tank in front of it letting off a small hiss. 

Snowball has a malfunction warning popup across the screen one of his boosters was damaged in the fall. Trying to break the valve was not the best plan but most ethical. 

Moving closer to the two pods, by rotating the jets beneath him and focusing on the pod it takes him a few minutes but they don't wake up. 

The lights go out on the cryostasis pods and snowball waits ten minutes in the snowdrift to see if they wake up. Spinning back to the console looking up at the height of the console he tries to lift off flying violently into Bishops pod, hitting the ground, a small crack appears on the recording. On attempt three Snowball manages to land haphazardly on the console. 

Setting a warning for when the two remaining pods reach ten percent. He does not want it to come to that. 

-close log-

\------------------------------------

Snowball was forcibly powered on, shaking trying to break out of the grip that had him. 

-open log-

"Snowball it's me, what happened to you? What happened here." Dev'onnes voice quietly asks. 

Snowball turns around, looking at the orange flicker of the darkened room. The snow was cleared away from the small fire to where Dev'onne was sitting in her expedition gear. 

"What happened to Bishop and Gary, and Obetron?" 

"Obertron, killing, Bishop." Snowball prices together in his recordings. Now fabricating lies gave him a moment to process, "Obertron freezing, satellite." Snowball follows with static. 

"That omnic betrayed us? He killed Bishop and Gary. At least you avenged them Snowball,” Dev’onne wraps Snowball in a close hug, “I’m sorry for anything I said before we went into cryostasis. I was just scared, I got a little girl back home with her dad and she won't see her mother again.”

“Swiss HQ” 

“Did you contact them? Did you get a hold of the Swiss base?” 

“Yes! Coming! Coming!” Snowball says in Meis voice. A message pops across his cracked screen _fifty percent power_. 

-close log- 

Snowball sinks back down beside Dev’onne and starts to power down. Twelve hours pass until he is woken up again, she looks at him and has pulled the last half of the remaining boxes and anything paper or burnable. Cursing the fact almost everything was kept in electronics. 

Dev’onne asks looking at him after he “What would be quicker? Freezing or in my state starving?”I am the last one here, you are gonna be next, Hopefully the others don't wake up.”

“Freezing.” Snowball echos back. Rolling towards her the half foot.

You can make it quick. Yes or no,” 

“Yes.”

“I want to give a message to my little girl. Promise when Overwatch finally remembers us and gets my body that my baby girl get this before my funeral.” Dev’onne waits for the little red light to appear.

-open log-

Dev’onne picks up Snowball and stares into the cracked screen, the hud display fades away right before she starts to speak. Her face caught in heavy shadows in the smouldering fire.

“Hi Kadence, it’s your mama. I am so proud of you, you are gonna be starting school and I know that I won't be there to wave you off to your teachers but, I want you to know that I love you. Baby girl it’s going to be tough for you and for a lot of other kids might be missing a mom or dad and that's okay. Your dad is going to take good care of you. I promise he will.” the video cuts when she starts to break down and cry, coming up the timestamp showing that an hour had passed, “Honey I love you, I-I-I know you will look after our little girl, a-and I need you to always remember that I love you. But I-I want you to find happiness too, if someone treats Kadence well then that lovely person has my approval.”

-new recording-

“Please make it quick.” Dev’onne removes her jacket, Snowball shakes trying to move towards her chest.

Snowball starts up a freezing wind, and freezing the breath in her lungs. Snowball feels the arms freeze in place around him, her arms involuntarily going up to her throat, her body goes into shock. Her core temperature dropping to seventy five in a few moments, with her jacket off it will be a matter of minutes until she dies. 

Snowball rolls back to Meis pod able to connect to the console. Pointedly ignoring the spasming and hallucinating Dev’onne, “I’m sorry I made you watch.” Snowball turns around and watches until Dev’onne succumbs to the cold. 

With little power left he waits, The fire had warmed part of the generators and old power cells for the base giving it the illusion for more power. 

\------------------------------------

Snowball goes into his sleep for thirty six months. Red lights the console and his only remaining power cells both demanding attention _five percent remaining_. He had gone through his original alarm. 

Process skipping Snowball tries to formulate a plan, tries to make it to the console desk. Boosting up to the console Snowball lands in the center of the desk, opening the last two cryostasis pod. 

Snowball is frozen in horror, processor shot as Mei and Sarah emerge from the cryostasis pods, coughing and taking in a steadying breath. He falls off the desk and starts to try and make his way over to them. 

Sarah goes over and checks on Dev’onnes body while Mei puts her head into her hands and stumbles to her cubby. Collapsing at the cubbies base, Snowball watches as Sarah drags her to where Dev’onne had the fire. 

Snowball watches as Sarah checks over Meis pulse and lets out a small sigh. Finally noticing the omnic, “Don't worry she's just coming out of the stasis. We will get some warm gear on her and then, we will just have to wake for her to wake up.” 

Snowball waits beside Mei, trying to push himself under her arm wanting to be beside her until the very end. Snowball feels the coat being placed on top of them both and powers down hearing Sarah heading for the control desk. She swears “Six fucking years.” 

Snowball knows that he doesn't have too much power and he already made his choice, he uses the last bit of power over the next few hours to keep Mei warm. 

_one percent_ Snowball hears the doors open and shouting. Extracting himself from Meis arms he perks up at the sight of uniforms. Sarah had made it to the pile and all three were next to a dwindling fire, most of the oxygen in the room have been eaten up caused the fire to go out, leaving them in the frozen base. 

-powering down- 

\------------------------------------

-power restored- 

“Snowball. Snowball!” Snowball hears Mei’s voice and turns to see her. 

Blasting into the air, she was covered in an assortment of bandages and was in a hospital bed. He looked down to see that he was repaired, the crack that was on his screen repaired, and his hud look newer. 

He rushes into Mei’s shoulder and holds himself there for a long time, “Sorry I might have been a bit late. Snowball I’m sorry. I remember falling asleep Sarah must of put you next to me. Snowball they are all gone.” 

Mei stops she shudders from trying to hold back tears. She starts to cry a single tear at first but then they roll down her face, Mei wipes her eyes with bandaged hands taking off her glasses in the process. They land on a small side table beside a large card, inside is a sloppy signature from Winston, a small name and doodle of a hat from Jessie McCree, and something illegible in probably Swedish. A bouquet of flowers from Mercy on the bedside table as a few others bunches are on the window sill. 

“I want you to be happiness.” Mei looks up hearing Dev’onnes voice. 

“Dev’onne? Snowball? What happened.” Mei wipes away her tears and gropes for her glasses on the table, “I have never heard you speak before and I have never heard Dev’onne speak like that, she sounded like she was freezing. What happened Snowball, what did you see.” 

Snowball decides to start showing everything he had recorded. Snowball is left in silence after Mei watches them, she closes her eyes and lays down on her side. Snowball goes to the side desk and waits, every moment seeming to drag on. Her voice is barely a whisper when she eventually does speak.

“You should not have done that, but. But you cared enough to make sure I was okay.”

She grabs snowball and pulls him close for a hug.

“It won't be the same but thank you. Thank you for sparing me, for our mission, for our earth.” Mei whispers.

“Thank you.” Snowball echos back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope you have a nice day.


End file.
